MENTAL RETARDATION AND ACCELERATED GROWTH: INAPPROPRIATE SECRETION OF HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE,
Abstract
The paper reports detailed studies on a male child who presented with a syndrome characterized by accelerated growth, mental retardation, inner epicanthic folds, flat occiput, hypertelorism, tongue enlargement, down-slanting palpebral fissures, advanced bone age and enlarged sella turcica. The features are similar in many respects to the syndrome of 'Cerebral Gigantism' as described originally by Sotos et al. The patient was interesting, for he had periodic elevations of the fasting plasma growth hormone levels and regularly had a paradoxical fall in the hormone level associated with insulin-induced hypoglycemia. The human growth hormone response to arginine infusion was perfectly normal. It is suggested that the occasional elevations in human growth hormone under fasting conditions and the paradoxical response to insulin are compatible with the hypothesis that this patient represents a syndrom of 'inappropriate secretion of growth hormone'. Of additional interest is the observation in this patient of a chromosomal aberration showing 46 chromosomes and a small, round centric fragment in all cells studied. Family studies failed to reveal this finding in parents or other siblings. The small centric fragment was considered similar to those seen in 'partial mongolism' as described by Dent et al. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1969
- Accession Number
- AD0691235
Entities
People
- Charles A. Coltman
- David M. Brown